


Adventures in Dragonsitting

by Heart_Seoul_Soshi



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-12
Updated: 2018-06-16
Packaged: 2019-01-16 09:49:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 18,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12340302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heart_Seoul_Soshi/pseuds/Heart_Seoul_Soshi
Summary: Auradon was the greatest thing to ever happen to Mal.  It changed her life for the better.  She married Evie, and spent her days raising three precious kids with her--happily ever after.  Until Mal inherited the very kingdom she owed so much to.  Now she's queen.  And her toddlers turn into dragons.  So there's that.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> from an anonymous request on tumblr

Evie woke up to screaming.

Of course she did.

Once upon a time, she’d leap out of bed, senses and reflexes on instant high alert as she raced from the chamber to follow the noise.  Now, not so much. Now, she was just in the stage of her life as a mom where she’d physically kill for five more minutes of sleep in the morning.  God, she was too young for this.

Too afraid to check what time it was, Evie rolled out of bed without a glance at the alarm clock, feeling out her slippers on the floor and shrugging into the sapphire robe she’d left draped across the ottoman at the end of the bed.

Another scream when she opened the door.

Unperturbed, Evie made her way one room down the corridor, stifling a yawn as she twisted the handle of the ornate teak door.

“Elliot,” she said, swinging the door open.

From the instant it was a scream and not the alarm or even the gentle chirping of birds that roused her from her sleep, Evie knew she wasn’t about to walk into this room and see her son nestled snugly in his crib.  And like with all things, she was right.  She walked into the room and saw her son, swooping through the air and terrorizing the chambermaid with dive bombs. The little dragon with big, innocent green eyes that took up half of his face did an impressive midair stop at the sound of Evie’s voice.  His scales were lilac, a light purple almost closer to pink, hovering on tiny yet already powerful wings.  With a small squeak, he fluttered down to the floor, and was enveloped in a poof of purple smoke.

Evie’s smile was tired, but nonetheless bright.

“There he is!”

Grinning on all fours with the softest wisps of purple on his head was her Elliot, who she promptly scooped up and met with a kiss.

“Plumette, I am  _so_  sorry,” she turned and apologized to the flustered castle caretaker. “You know he takes after his mom.”

“Oh, that’s quite alright,” Plumette said in her pleasantly accented voice, getting herself back in order.

“We’ll get it under control one of these days, Plumette.  I’ve got him now, thank you.”

Plumette bowed her head and excused herself from the room.  Evie sighed, meeting the heartbreaking doe eyes of the kid hanging onto her shoulder.

“E, what did we tell you about that?” she asked.  He didn’t understand, of course, not even two yet, but Evie was the mom who glazed right over the baby talk phase and skipped straight to full-on conversation. “You can’t use your powers to terrorize the staff.”

A tiny giggle from across the room.  Evie smirked, turned her head towards it.

“And what’s so funny, little prince?” she questioned.

On the opposite side of the room her other twin, Emery, had pulled himself up on the bars of his crib and stood there, wildly amused with a grin like a ray of sunshine.  Elliot in tow and carefully stepping over all manner of stuffed animals that had been hurled from the twins’ cribs in the middle of the night, Evie moved to press a good morning kiss to the also-purple wisps nestled on top of her second son’s head.

“No really, what’s so funny?  Did you encourage this, Em?  …I swear, more like your mom everyday.”

“Yeah?  And what’s wrong with that?”

Evie utterly melted at the sound of her voice and the sight of her suddenly standing there in the entryway, leaning against the doorframe.

“Nothing, except at this rate our kids are weeks or even days away from setting something on fire, and you know we’d  _never_ hear the end of it from Cogsworth,” Evie met Mal in the doorway with the softest and warmest of kisses, squishing Elliot between them.

“He could use the excitement,” Mal chuckled, nuzzling her nose to her son’s soft and oh-so-tiny one.

“Not at his age.”

Evie took a closer look at the love of her life and saw her dressed in what looked suspiciously like the exact same outfit she had on the day before.

“Mal, are you…are you just getting in?” she frowned.

Mal sighed, sauntering further into the room.  Evie only just now noticed the slump in her walk, the drag to her steps.

“You know, it’s not like our worlds, where being queen was just sitting on a throne looking pretty, menacing, and pretty menacing.  Being queen nowadays is an  _actual_  job.  Wacky paperwork and office hours included,” the exhaustion from an all-nighter was evident in her voice as she rested on the guardrail of the crib and let Emery curl his curious fingers in her hair.

Evie frowned, watching Mal’s eyes instantly start to flutter shut as she hunched over the crib.

“Mom bree?” Emery squeaked, keeping his hand in Mal’s hair but looking to Evie.

“Oh, no baby, mommy can’t come to breakfast today,” Evie quietly said, returning to the crib’s side.

Mal lifted her head.

“Why can’t she?”

“Because she’s worked all night and needs to crawl into bed and get some sleep,” Evie said, firmly eyeing Mal.

“She can have breakfast with her kids first,” Mal lifted a (stylish) pajama-clad Emery out of the crib and plopped him onto his feet down on the floor.

“Mal, you need some rest,” Evie said worriedly.

“I’m fine.  Where’s Henry?”

Evie knew there was no arguing with Mal over this, but that wouldn’t stop her little pout.  

“Still asleep, I’m sure,” she answered.

“We’ll tag team.  You take One and Two to the dining hall, and I’ll grab Three,” Mal said, already making for the door.

“Tag team, of course,” Evie laughed.  "The way we’ve always done it.“

"We’re outnumbered.  It’s the only way we  _can_ do it.”

Technically, the twins were the Two and the Three.  Henrietta (Henry to Mal) was the One, nearing five and the oldest of the bunch.  Yes, Mal admitted it, the dragging walk to her daughter’s room at the very end of the corridor had her longing to just bundle herself under the covers in bed and close her eyes, but it wasn’t about to stop her.

The door to Henrietta’s room was left open a crack, just the way she liked it.  Mal slowly pushed it opened and stepped inside. Where the twins were like Mal 1 and Mal 2, Henrietta was Evie’s little Mini-Me, right down to the blue of her wavy and already long hair.  As Evie had said, their eldest was asleep, her tiny form swallowed up on the king size bed that was gigantic compared to her.  Mal snuck right over, climbing up next to her like the kid she still really was at heart.

“…Hey lil’ cub,” she softly whispered, brushing her fingers against Henrietta’s cheek.

Henry stirred just the slightest, and Mal got a kick out of watching her wriggle.  The little girl flipped over onto her back, blinking and peering her eyes up at Mal.

“…Momma,” she murmured.

“Yep, it’s me.  I still live here,” Mal teased.  "Your brothers are up.  It’s time for breakfast.“

Henry was more of a morning person than Mal could ever be, but this particular morning was a bit of a rough start getting her out of bed.  Hand in hand, the pair made it to the grand dining room, but it was a commotion from the kitchen that diverted Mal’s attention.  With both Mal and her daughter sleepily rubbing their eyes, they backtracked to the kitchen just in time to see all the chefs making a frantic scramble out of it and taking off down the hall.  Evie suddenly poked her head out from the room, somehow sensing that Mal was there.

"Your sons are at it again,” she said flatly, not the slightest bit perturbed like Plumette or the cooks had been.

“ _My_  sons?” Mal blurted.

“ _Your_ sons, flying around the kitchen knocking over pots and pans.”

In an impressive display of sheer comedic timing, said crashing of pots and pans sounded right after Evie mentioned it.

Mal led Henry into the kitchen with her, where one small lilac dragon and one dark purple one were zipping around the large room, bumping into hanging lights, gusting loose napkins around, and jarring anything and everything from the shelves and racks.

“They can’t control it yet,” Mal said simply.

“I know that, but that doesn’t mean we can just let them tear Belle and Beast’s castle apart.”

“…Yeah, you’re right,” Mal dropped Henry’s hand so she could cup both of hers to her mouth.  "Boys!!“

The two small dragons stopped, honed their identical emerald eyes right on Mal.

”…Boys, pack it in,“ she firmly but calmly said, meeting both pairs of emerald eyes right back.

They hesitated for a second, but then their wings were fluttering, slowly floating them down to the floor.  Puffs of purple like the one Evie had watched back in the bedroom went up around the dragons, and then the twins were back.

”…Good job, momma,“ Henrietta said.

"Thanks, lil’ cub.”

Mal and Evie wrangled their twins into high chairs and got started on breakfast, letting their eldest help by having her fetch a bowl here, a measuring cup there, some bags of flour and sugar elsewhere.

“Oops, Henrietta, come here,” Evie reached out for her and then knelt down to clean a smattering of flour off her cheeks.

“Kids are so messy,” Mal muttered, stirring pancake batter.

Evie was about to come back with something along the lines of “look who’s talking”, but glanced up to see Mal’s eyes falling closed as her arm very lamely stirred.

“…Mal, go upstairs to bed.”

Mal shook her head, and herself as well.

“No, I’m having breakfast with my family first,” she held fast to her insistence.

“We’ll meet you halfway.”

“What?”

“Just go upstairs and at least change into your pajamas. You’ll be more comfortable.”

Mal frowned, but when her wife and daughter ganged up on her, getting behind her and physically scooting her out of the kitchen, she didn’t have much of a choice.

So it was that she went through the strange and backwards ritual of doing her nightly routine in the morning; showering, changing, running fingers through her mussed-up hair.  She was in the middle of the bedroom just straightening out her pajama shirt when the door swung open and Evie arrived with the kids and one of the kitchen’s elegant serving carts filled to the brim with breakfast.  Evie grinned, proud of the day’s first genius idea (she tended to go through several on any given day).

“…E, if you start singing ‘Be Our Guest’, I swear…” Mal chuckled.

A little giggle touched Evie as well, partly from Mal’s quip, partly from the way Elliot swiveled his head all around at hearing the nickname shared by both himself and his mom.

Mal crawled into their giant bed and was instantly set upon by their kids, Henrietta scrambling up to join her and the twins desperately stretching out to grab the covers until Evie came and gave her too-short toddlers a boost.  She pushed the serving cart right up by the bed and slid in beside Mal, leaning over and dishing out plates of pancakes to everyone.

“…All nighters might not be so bad if this is how they end,” Mal murmured.

Evie, Henrietta, Elliot, and Emery squishing together around her despite there being plenty of room on the bed to spread out. Really not bad at all.

“I’d prefer you not make a habit of these all nighters, thank you very much,” Evie used her mom voice.

“Evie, running a kingdom is  _a lot_.  I have  _no_ idea how Ben did this at only sixteen, or what could have possibly possessed him to leave Auradon to me when he…”

Evie frowned sadly.  The twins, blissfully unaware, fumbled with their forks and pancakes, while Henrietta’s gaze stayed fixated on Mal and Evie.  She didn’t remember much about her Uncle Ben.  Her most vivid memory was one night before her brothers were even born, when her moms climbed into bed with her to softly tell her things like she wouldn’t be able to see Uncle Ben anymore, that they were going to go live in his family’s castle, and many other shushed and whispered things she couldn’t quite recall.  Evie slipped her arm around Henrietta’s shoulder as she talked with Mal, brushing her fingers through the long trail of her hair. Mal went on.

“I mean, I couldn’t even handle being a lady of the court, how in the world did Ben expect me to handle being—Em, pancakes go in the mouth, bud, not down your shirt—a queen?”

“I know, Mal…”

“One day, I was just me.  Then all of a sudden, I’m queen of Auradon, and—and this kid is  _seriously_ dropping pancakes down his shirt.”

Mal paused in her slightly melancholy reminiscing to reach for a napkin and clean breakfast bits off of Emery.

“Just leave him, he needs a bath this morning anyway,” Evie said easily.

“Em, this is exactly how you get chased by bears,” Mal put the fork back in his syrupy fingers.

“Is Emery gonna get chased by bears??” Henrietta gasped.

“No one is getting chased by bears,” Evie said.

“Of course not, Henry.  Your brother can fly.”

“Mal!”

Aside from a minor thing where Elliot ate too fast and started hiccuping black smoke (thank you, dragon genes) the rest of breakfast passed without incident, and as Evie got up to clear plates and utensils back onto the serving cart, Mal had already slumped down and let her head fall to her pillow, fighting her eyes open to watch Henrietta play with her brothers and feeling the bed bounce and jostle with every move.

“Okay guys, let’s get ready to tell momma night-night,” Evie said.

“But it’s morning!” Henrietta objected.

“And your momma’s tired.”

“Momma just has to get up again in a couple of hours anyway…” Mal mumbled.

“And even a little bit of sleep will do her good,” Evie pointed out.

Henrietta understood, crawling to the head of the bed and falling on Mal in a hug.  Mal smiled, pressing her face into the hair so much like Evie’s.

“Dragon loves her princess,” Mal sleepily murmured.

“Princess loves her dragon,” Henrietta said back.

Evie picked up one twin after the other and moved them to give wet baby kisses to Mal’s cheek, besetting her with giggles. Then Evie cleared the trio of kids off the bed, hoping that as Mal lulled closer and closer to sleep the boys wouldn’t pick that very moment to dragon out again.  Evie tucked her in, pressed her own kiss to Mal’s lips, and went around the room to close the curtains while Henrietta dutifully kept a hold of her brothers by the hands.  The bedroom darkened, and Mal heard the clinking of plates on the cart as Evie rolled it to the door.

“…Hey,” she peeked an eye open.

Four heads turned to look back at her.  Four seemed to be her magic number in life.  Growing up with four VKs.  Four in her family now.  Four little words.

“…I love you guys.”

Like she loved her whole world, for that’s exactly what they were to her.

“We love you momma!” Henrietta said excitedly.

The boys squeaked, bouncing on their feet.  Their version of sentiment.

Evie smiled, ushering the kids out the front door and joining them out in the hallway, whispering into the room as her exhausted queen finally fell asleep.

“I love you, Mal.”


	2. Chapter 2

"...What?  Lumiere, no, I am not traveling all that way just for some 'council' or 'conference' or whatever it is. It's the modern age, we have video messaging."

"But your majesty—"

"No. The boys are coming into their dragon powers, Evie spends half her day trying to wrestle them out of the air before they set some drapes on fire, and I'm not leaving her to handle them by herself. They don't really need  _me_ at that council."

Lumiere frowned, stepped closer to the desk.

"Forgive me, your majesty, but—"

"Lumiere, you've known me since I was in high school.  You know you can call me Mal."

"...Then forgive me, Mal, but in the two years since you took the throne, I can't help but feel that you see yourself as...filling in, until someone else comes along. You are not a placeholder, Mal. You are our queen," Lumiere gently said.

Mal laughed quietly to herself from behind her desk.

"Like I said, you've known me since high school, so you know I've been a lot of things in my life, but queen was never meant to be one of them. I'm trying, though. We all owe Auradon so much, and...it's what Ben wanted.  So...I'm trying."

She paused to put her signature on a couple documents from the thick stack in front of her.

"But...all this really isn’t for me, or my family. I don't want my daughter growing up with the day of her coronation always looming over her head. I mean, she takes after Evie, so it'll probably be the highlight of her life, but I want her to be able to do whatever she wants. Not live in the shadow of her destiny to be queen someday. I was meant to follow in my mother's footsteps once. That's the last thing I want for Henry."

Lumiere slowly nodded.

"...I understand, Mal.  The kingdom loves the royal family—"

"No one loves them like I do," Mal smirked.

"This is true, but even still, being queen brings certain customs and traditions with it that..."

Mal tuned him out entirely with a heavy sigh. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

 

Evie's fashion room had long since been turned into a partial playroom, around the same time being a full-time designer had turned into full-time mom, part-time designer. So she had the twins on a blanket, occupied with their flashing, blinking toys, and Henrietta in her lap on the floor while she put a classic Evie braid in her daughter's hair.

"Who's the fairest of them all?" Evie asked.

"Me!" Henrietta squeaked.

"That's right," Evie smiled. "You are so beautiful, my little girl."

"Like you."

"No, baby, like  _you._  There's only one little Henrietta in all the lands, and you're her. No one else in the world compares to you."

"The whole world??" Henrietta's eyes went wide at the thought.

"The whole world," Evie finished the braid and hugged her tight, kissing the top of her head. "So? Ready to do some sketches with me?"

"Yeah!" the tiny princess nodded exuberantly.

If the boys inherited Mal's talent for trouble, Henrietta inherited her mothers' creativity. Mal had long since gotten the girl her own little sketchbook and crayon set, and one of her favorite things to do was just sit by Evie doodling drawings and kid-ified versions of fashion designs. So at Evie's desk they sat side by side, Evie sketching out new designs for her fashion line and Henrietta doing the same with stick figures.

"Look, mommy!"

Henrietta turned her piece of paper out to Evie when she was done, showing off a stick figure with a neon orange shirt three times too big, a ridiculously tall top hat, and green and pink striped pants. Evie's smile was real and genuine.

"I love it!" she said.  "Hey, what do you think about polka dot pants?"

Evie pointed to the pants on her daughter's drawing.

"Polka dot?" Henrietta repeated.

"Yeah, maybe green and pink like this, or any other colors you want."

"Purple and blue," the little girl said.

Evie laughed.

"You like your moms' colors, huh?"

"Yep."

Evie looked over her shoulder to check on the twins, who had been suspiciously complacent the entire time. Henrietta looked too, following her mom's gaze.

"They're not dragons today," Henrietta noted.

"No, they're not...it's a little worrying, to be honest. I never know when your brothers are going to go flying through the air."

Henrietta went back to work, scribbling some gloves onto her stick figure.

"I wanna be a dragon..." she pouted.

Evie chuckled.

"You are perfect exactly as you are, little girl."

Henrietta smiled, colored in silence for a little while longer.

"When's momma coming home today?" she piped up after a bit.

"...I don't know," Evie said. "Momma has a lot of work to do."

"I wish she were here."

"So do I."

"Yeah?"

"Mhm," Evie smiled at her daughter.

"'Cuz you love momma lots," Henrietta nodded firmly to herself like she'd gotten the final word.

"That's right, I do. And we love _you_ lots, and we love your brothers lots."

"I know," Henrietta giggled.

"After everything your momma and I got in coming to Auradon, you three are the greatest things that ever happened to us," Evie leaned over and kissed the top of her daughter's head.

There were identical peals of laughter from where the twins were playing, and when Evie looked over her shoulder the only thing she saw was two pairs of little feet scurrying out the doorway and going up in purple smoke out in the hall.

"Be right back," Evie said urgently to Henrietta before leaping up and chasing after Elliot and Emery.

At first a bit disheartened that their coloring time had been interrupted, Henrietta soon found her brothers’ antics amusing, and giggled to herself before going back to her sketches.

* * *

 

"Momma!"

"Henry!"

Mal's little girl made a running jump right into her arms the moment Mal stepped through the front door that afternoon, and the two hugged like they hadn't seen each other in weeks.

"Hi, lil' cub," Mal squeezed her and nuzzled into soft blue hair. "Dragon missed her princess."

"Princess missed her dragon," Henrietta said.

Evie drew into the castle foyer with a half-asleep Elliot draped over her shoulder.

"E!" Mal greeted her, stifling a laugh as Elliot's head stirred upon hearing that nickname that was his as well as Evie's.

Mal pressed a kiss to Henrietta's cheek and set her down to go over to Evie and press one to her lips.

"You're home early," Evie noted with a smile.

"Well, not exactly," Mal shrugged.

Evie frowned.

"No? You have to go back to work?"

"I do," Mal sighed. "It's meeting after meeting this evening, and I still have so much to do before the first one even starts. I don't know when I'll get home tonight."

"So you just stopped by to say hello," Evie nodded with a sad yet understanding smile.

"No, I stopped by to bring my family over for dinner at my office."

Henrietta's eyes lit up with her tiny gasp.

"Momma's office??" she said excitedly.

Only Evie's daughter could live in a castle and still long to see the royal palace where the kingdom's business took place. Only Evie's daughter could tell you no, a castle and a palace are  _not_ the same thing, thank you very much, in the exact same way that only Evie could tell you no, indigo and blue are  _not_  the same thing, thank you very much.

"Oh, Mal, you know we'd love to, but I don't want the kids to cause any trouble," Evie fretted, thinking about how she had a hard enough time trying to keep her sons from burning down a castle, let alone a kingdom.

"My kids? Cause trouble? Please," Mal laughed teasingly.

Henrietta bounced on her feet and tugged at Evie's skirt.

"I want to see where momma works! E and Em will be good! Please, mommy??"

"Please, mommy?" Mal repeated.

"...You realize if the boys turn into dragons and burn a hole through an ancient tapestry, you'll get kicked off the throne, right?" Evie joked.

"I'd consider that an improvement."

Mal held her arms out for Elliot, and Evie passed him over. His tired eyes caught sight of Mal and he let out a delighted squeak, waking himself up a bit.

"You'll be a good boy, won't you E?" Mal said, smoothing her hand over his silky purple hair. "And even if you aren't, what's life without a little mischief?"

Evie shook her head and gave in to a small chuckle.

"Go pick out some shoes and a jacket," she said to Henrietta, nudging her along by the shoulder.

Henrietta took off running out of the foyer and up the grand staircase with a "Yes!!", whizzing out of sight down the corridors.

Mal's smile was bright and grateful.

"Thank you mommy," she teased. "Were the twins a handful today?"

"Not today," Evie's hand joined Mal's in playing with their son's hair. "He and Emery only went all dragon once, and really I'm just thankful that they waited until they were  _outside_ my fashion room to do it."

Evie too started up the huge staircase, and Mal followed.

"I wish I had more time with them," Mal said quietly. "I might show them how to control their powers."

"They'll learn, Mal. Don't worry."

"I don't want them to just learn, I want to teach them. I wish I had more time with my Emery, my Elliot, my Henry...my Evie."

They stopped outside of the twins' room, where Elliot's brother was curled up in his crib.

"You know your Evie loves you very much, right?" Evie asked, turning in front of the door to face Mal.

"Mhm, that's why I married her."

"And you know that everyone in this castle understands you have a lot on you, and that we as a family are going through a pretty big change."

"But since when did running a kingdom become more important than my family?"

"No one's saying it's more important, it's just something that has to be done. There's a balance Mal, everyone from queen to custodian has to balance work and family, but you don't have to find that balance alone," Evie told her. "We haven’t been in this for very long, we're all still getting our footing. Don't feel like we're being neglected."

"I'm not a bad wife and mother?"

"You, Queen Mal, are the greatest wife and mother in all the world."

"Besides you."

"Besides me," Evie laughed, leaning in to kiss Mal. "So, what's for dinner?"

"Anything we want," Mal smiled. "Lumiere still has a flair for feasts."

"Moooommy!" Henrietta called out, trudging up the corridor.

Both Mal and Evie looked to her, watching the little girl hold up a tiny pair of her shoes.

"Do these go with my outfit?" she demanded, a hand on her hip.

Evie beamed with pride. Mal just blinked incredulously.

"...That's  _your_  daughter, E."

"Yes it is."

* * *

 

Just as Mal had expected, she and her bleary eyes really didn't know what time in the now-early morning she left the royal palace behind and headed for home. The castle was darkened and silent, almost eerily so, but Mal was too tired to be perturbed by it.

Evie was a sight to behold when Mal clicked on one tiny lamp to change into her pajamas. Curled up on her side with her long hair spilling all around her, her lips parted slightly with her soft and steady breathing. Mal knew Evie had gone to bed just as exhausted as she was now; a house full of three kids was arguably harder to manage than Auradon. She wasn't awoken by Mal's rummaging, or by Mal crawling into bed, but as if she were aware of her wife's presence even in sleep, Evie curled in close to her after she'd settled in under the covers.

Mal had just finally, thankfully begun to drift off when she was startled back into consciousness by a soft and somber "Momma?" from her bedside. Like some kind of preternatural mom instinct, her eyes seemed to adjust to the dark right away when she opened them to see her Henry standing over her.

"...Lil' cub, what are you doing up?" she rasped, propping herself up on one elbow.

"...I had a bad dream," Henrietta sniffed.

"Yeah? Momma used to have bad dreams all the time. You know what helps?"

Henrietta shook her head.

"Snuggling," Mal said, leaning out of bed to lift up her daughter and tuck her under the covers between herself and Evie.

Henrietta squirming and fidgeting to make herself comfortable stirred Evie awake, and she sleepily peeked one eye open.

"...Baby?" she mumbled, confusion in her tired tone.

"Princess had a nightmare," Mal explained, rolling over to face Evie and hold Henrietta.

"Oh no..."

"But she's okay now, we'll keep her safe," Mal said.

"That’s right, we will."

And just like Mal had been before, all three were just on the comfortable cusp of deep sleep when the baby monitor on Evie's nightstand lit up with the sounds of tearful twins.

"...They had bad dreams too," Mal murmured.

"...I'll check on them," Evie was already up, rolling out of bed and stepping into her slippers.

Nights like this made Mal glad she'd stocked up on sleep during math class at Auradon Prep.

A while later she heard the door open with Evie's return, and when she felt a weight drop onto the bed that was too light to be Evie yet still heavy at the same time, she knew the twins had been brought back.

"...There are toddlers in my bed," she muttered drowsily.

"I couldn't get them to go back to sleep in their cribs," Evie yawned.

There was plenty of room for all five of them in the bed, five sleepy heads nestling in on pillows and under warm sheets. Henrietta was already asleep. Elliot and Emery, stretching out their little legs, weren't far behind.

"...E?" Mal almost couldn't even get the one syllable past her heavy lips.

"Hm?"

"I love you."

"I love you too, Mal."

"If the boys set anything on fire in their sleep, just leave it."

"We'll deal with it in the morning," Evie agreed.

"A little random property damage never hurt anyone..."

"Flames don't spread all that fast anyway..."

She was so beyond tired, her body heavy, her eyelids shut tight as if tied down by weights, but deep down, Mal didn't mind. For here in her own bed, she wasn't a queen. She was simply Mal, a sleepy mom with another sleepy mom at her side and three snoring kids between them. That, she would gladly be.

Yet another interruption, this one in the form of Henrietta waking up just long enough to poke Mal a couple times on the nose.

"Momma?" she whispered. "Do you still have bad dreams sometimes?"

Mal smiled, her eyes falling shut once more.

"No, lil' cub. Never. Do you know when they stopped?"

"No..."

"The day you were born," Mal told her.

A big smile crept across Henrietta's face.

"Princess loves her dragon," she said.

"And dragon will always love her princess," Mal scooted over to kiss her on the forehead.

"Night night," the little girl yawned

"Goodnight, Henry. Sleep tight."


	3. Chapter 3

"Oh my god. Em. Em! Would you please sit still??"  
  
The tiny toddler squirmed this way and that on his changing table, wiggling out of Mal's grasp. Slippery as an eel.  
  
"Emery of Auradon, I am your queen, don't make me feed you to the dungeon crocodiles...okay, I don't really have a dungeon. Or crocodiles. And don't tell mommy I said that, she'll flip. Here, play with this."  
  
Mal snatched up a squeaky plush butterfly toy just within her reach and dropped it down on Emery's tummy, capturing his attention and settling him for a moment.  
  
"And you aren't helping, E," Mal pouted, looking down at Elliot scampering around her feet and distracting his brother.   
  
Elliot squealed in delight, amused at his own feet racing him around and around the room. Mal chuckled, finally fastening a diaper around Emery. She suited him back up in his onesie, comfy cotton of deep blue and hand-designed by Evie herself. Of course their kids would have closets full of Evie originals, there was never any doubt about it.  
  
"And look at that, we're all changed," Mal lifted Emery up and kissed his nose, the boy still distracted by his stuffed toy but not distracted enough to keep away a smile.  
  
Mal eyed the clock up on the wall—just a little bit past eight in the morning.  
  
"Looks like you two are up for good," she said, knowing their sleeping habits.  
  
The twins' room was a toddler's dream; toys, sights, sounds, and—with Evie's insistence—not a sharp edge in sight. Mal would've let them have some time roaming around on the playmat with their toys for a few minutes while she headed back up the hallway to her own bedroom, but they  _were_  her sons. So back in their cribs they went, where they could stay contained and out of trouble.  
  
Unless they decided to fly out, that is.  
  
With several blinking and singing toys stuck in with each of them, Mal hoped that would keep them busy for just a few moments as she left and returned to her room. In these early morning hours sunlight sparkled like pixie dust just beyond the heavy purple drapes, a few streams fighting their way through here and there and showing off lazily floating clouds of dust motes. Evie was caught in one such stream as she lay sleeping in bed, hair fanned out around her on the pillow and one arm up near her head.  
  
For much longer than she intended Mal just stood at the front of the room and watched, watched the princess-turned-queen before her. The inane know-it-alls at the royal palace would insist time and time again that the proper term for Evie was "queen consort", but Mal would never listen. Mal had no interest in listening. Her Evie was a queen, plain and simple. No doubt about it.  
  
There were birds chirping in the trees just outside the windows, Mal could hear them. Birds twittering away, her twins giggling down the hall, Evie's soft and rhythmic breathing from her snuggly spot in bed. What a dream.  
  
The two of them were highly, highly acquainted with the definition of the word 'tired', and Evie didn't move in the slightest when Mal climbed back into bed, laying flat on her stomach and resting her head in her hand as she continued to marvel. And just like their classic fairytales of old, only a soft kiss pressed to Evie's lips made her start to stir and rouse up out of sleep. Mal was the first and only thing her bleary eyes saw, and she blinked her vision clear with a smile.  
  
"...Good morning," Evie's voice was still low and raspy from sleep.  
  
"Thank you," Mal said right away.  
  
Evie paused mid-stretch to frown. Not the most conventional response to a "good morning", but whatever.  
  
"...Hm? For what?" she asked.  
  
"For being the mother of our children."  
  
That took Evie back for a second, but soon a big, sleepy smile was spreading across her face.  
  
"I'm not the only mother, you know," she reached over and playfully tapped Mal on the nose.  
  
"I know. But thinking back to where we came from, what we've been through, sometimes it's hard to believe that I ended up here, raising a family with my best friend."  
  
"Not too hard to believe," Evie disagreed with her smile fixed firmly in place. "After all, we always knew there was magic in Auradon."  
  
"The real magic is in our daughter's eyes. And in our sons' smiles."  
  
"That it is, Mal. I love you."  
  
Mal threaded her fingers through Evie's silken, familiar blue.  
  
"I love you, Evie."  
  
Evie's smile turned playful and teasing.  
  
"This isn't you trying to sweet talk your way into a fourth child, is it?" she joked.  
  
Mal laughed.  
  
"Not today, we have our hands full with Two and Three as it is. Speaking of which, they're awake."  
  
Evie let her head fall to the side to check the time on her endtable clock.  
  
"Of course they are. Then it's time to get up," she said.  
  
She started to stir, moving to sit up, but Mal put a hand on her shoulder and settled her back down onto her pillow.  
  
"E, I worked for weeks to get everything squared away at the palace so I could have a day or two free from queen stuff. Why don't you sleep in for once and let me handle things?"  
  
"Why don't  _you_  sleep in for once? It's your day off, after all," Evie said right back.  
  
"And I can always have more days off. You, on the other hand, chase dragons around the castle for a living, so I think it's time you slept in."  
  
Evie couldn't deny that her pillow was feeling so,  _so_  nice.  
  
"...Just for an hour or so," she gave in, closing her eyes and snuggling deep under the covers. "Will you see if our princess is awake yet?"  
  
"Of course. Henry and the boys will be waiting for you when you get up."  
  
Going back up the hallway, Mal peeked in on the twins to find them still thoroughly entertained and pacified before she made her way to go check on her daughter. She opened the door to her eldest's room as quietly as she could, and there was her Henry, sitting at her own little vanity table. Dressed for the day in a t-shirt and her favorite purple skirt, she sat and brushed out her hair, very intently watching her reflection in the mirror with those curious brown eyes of hers. It always made Mal's heart skip a beat or two everytime she looked at her daughter and realized just how much of Evie she saw in her.  
  
"...Morning, princess," Mal leaned against the doorframe.  
  
Henrietta gasped.  
  
"Momma!"   
  
She leapt down from her seat at the vanity with an exuberant hop, scampering across the room and making a running jump right into Mal's arms.  
  
"You're not at work!" the little girl said, surprised.  
  
"Not today, lil' cub. Momma's staying home with her three favorite kids. Ready for breakfast?"  
  
"Mommmma, my hair isn't done yet!" Henrietta whined with a huff.  
  
"Oh. My bad, your highness," Mal stifled a laugh and set Henrietta down.   
  
"Geez, momma."  
  
"Geez indeed. How about you just meet me and your brothers in the kitchen when you're ready?"  
  
"Can we have cake for breakfast?" Henrietta teased.  
  
"Only if you want mommy to ground all four of us," Mal pointed at herself. "And it's my day off, I don't want to be grounded."  
  
Henrietta giggled. Mal bent down and smoothed back her blue to kiss her on the forehead.  
  
"But you know I'd happily get grounded for you," Mal said.  
  
"You're silly, momma," Henrietta smiled.  
  
"Don't I know it."  
  
She left Henry to herself, smiling at the girl's independence, and left the room to return once again to the twins. Emery pushed a button on his toy and listened with an intense face as it sang its ABCs, while across from him in his own crib, Elliot chewed on a book. Emery glanced over his shoulder and saw Mal, then went back to focusing on his toy.  
  
"Bee-cee," he cooed.  
  
Mal went over to the crib, reaching in to fiddle with some buttons for herself.  
  
"Yeah, how about you learn your ABCs so you can sing for us? A is for apple, B is for blue, C is for Carlos, D is for dragon. E is for Evie, of course, but you know her as 'mommy'."  
  
"Mommy?" Elliot repeated, dropping his book and looking all around the room.  
  
"Mommy's sleeping, kiddo. It's just you and me for now."  
  
At her words, Elliot stretched out his arms to her, and Mal moved to lift him from the crib and set him down on the floor, settling in beside him. She drew up her knees and sat him there, holding him around his little waist. Her own eyes looked back at her within Elliot's green, and she brushed back the tiny silky strands of purple that had fallen into his face.  
  
"You are the most beautiful little boy," she said proudly. "You and your brother. Do you two know how much I love you?"  
  
She glanced back and forth at the twins like she was expecting an answer from them.  
  
"With all my heart," she answered herself. "...You know, it's funny. Once upon a time, there was a girl who was evil, and cruel. She didn't know what love felt like. She had never been shown it, and she was  _sure_  she didn't want to. Her heart was cold, and guarded, with no room in it for anyone but herself, not even the loyal friends who stuck by her on their island prison. But then, one day...she rescued a princess."  
  
Both boys were riveted by the sound of her voice, their wide eyes fixated on her and Emery pressing himself as close to the edge of his crib as he could to see Mal.  
  
"The wicked girl who cared only for herself risked her own life to save the life of the princess, and in return? In return, the princess taught her how to love. How to love herself, how to love her friends...and how to love another, bravely and unapologetically."  
  
A couple big words and concepts entirely lost on a pair of twenty month olds, but the twins were fascinated with the story nonetheless.  
  
"...Was the princess mommy?"  
  
Mal turned her head to see her eldest standing there in the doorway with curious eyes, and the warmest of smiles claimed Mal's lips.  
  
"The princess was mommy," she nodded. "And if it weren't for mommy—and the help of your very princely uncles—I might've never gotten the chance to be so unbelievably happy with the three most amazing children in the whole world."  
  
She looked from Henrietta, to Elliot, to Emery in his crib. Her entire life. It didn't matter if she was the queen of Auradon, or the queen of the galaxy or even queen of the entire universe. So long as she had this, her three kids gathered around her while her wife slept soundly down the hall, Mal was happy. Happier than she ever imagined or dared to hope she could be.  
  
Henrietta trotted further into the room, sitting down on the floor beside Mal.  
  
"...You were the evil girl?" she quietly asked.  
  
Mal set Elliot down, let him crawl off across the carpet.  
  
"That was me, lil' cub," Mal told her daughter with an apologetic smile.  
  
Henry's brilliant brown eyes were big and round.  
  
"Really??"  
  
"Really. But that was a long time ago, Henry. People change. Sometimes it's for better, and sometimes it's for worse, but either way it's still important to remember."  
  
Henrietta nodded fervently.  
  
"I'll remember, momma."  
  
And Mal felt her smile suddenly melt into a frown. For her little girl was a bright, shining joy, with twinkling eyes and melodious laughter that Mal carried firmly in her heart. But thinking back on her own life, her own past, she came to the frightening realization that even in Auradon, there would be hardships and heartaches that not even she could protect her children from. The reality of being a parent, but one Mal would much rather not face. Hearing Henrietta promise to remember that the people in her life would change...all Mal could think about was the way people tended to change for the worst.  
  
"...I need you to remember something else, lil' cub."  
  
Henrietta tilted her head to the side in wondering curiosity.  
  
"What else?"  
  
"Remember that  _I'll_ never change," Mal looked her daughter seriously in the eyes. "Remember that momma loves you and she'll never stop loving you."  
  
"Even if _I_ change?"  
  
Henry had Evie's smarts. An innate sense of wisdom. The ability to sit and soak in Mal's words with not a single syllable going over her head.  
  
"Even if you change," Mal let her fingers run through her daughter's hair. "Because that's what moms are supposed to do. They love you forever, no matter what."  
  
"What if I grow ten feet tall?"  
  
Mal chuckled. The philosophies of a five year old.  
  
"Then you can help clean the windows," she said, smile slowly returning.  
  
"What if all my teeth fall out?"  
  
"Mommy and I will make you applesauce. Speaking of, we'd better go get some breakfast."  
  
One kid walked and two toddled after Mal as she led the way through the winding castle halls to the kitchen. The chefs all bid the royal family a good morning, to which Henrietta happily curtsied. Everything they offered sounded so tempting and enticing—omelettes, bacon omelettes, hash browns and eggs, stuffed French toast, waffles, blueberry pancakes—but curse it all, Mal liked to be the one to cook for her kids. She'd come far since the days of dishing out feasts from a spellbook, and had long since learned what Evie was raving about everytime she brought up her love for cooking. One of the few things she thanked her mother for.  
  
So with the castle chefs being given the morning off, Henrietta scooting a stool around the enormous kitchen to reach plates, bowls, and measuring cups for her mom, and the mischievous twins digging inside the island cabinets to fling tupperware across the room, Mal made breakfast.  
  
Four faces lit up in front of plates of strawberry pancakes when Evie made her way into the dining hall, having woken up and smelled Mal's cooking halfway across the castle. Three faces were happy to see their mother, one face was happy to see her wife. And all five of them sat around the table with warm food and warm smiles, no meetings for Mal to run off to or councils to answer to. Just the five of them at breakfast—a family.  
  
The twins in their high chairs, taking bits of pancake out of their mouths and chucking them across the table, Henrietta screaming and not in the mood for syrup in her hair, Evie trying yet failing to be stern because Elliot and Emery just had  _so much_  of Mal in them, and Mal—eyes wide—uttering a quiet "Uh-oh" as the boys' rambunctiousness gave way to puffs of purple smoke and the arrival of their dragon forms. Then the food really started flying, and by the time all was said and done, Evie had a crying Henrietta in her arms, purple skirt ruined and pancakes in her hair, the twins were laughing uncontrollably, and Mal was putting out the tablecloth.  
  
Well, breakfast and chaos were both two-syllable words.  
  
Chaos or not, Mal would gladly skip every meeting and stand up every council for this. 


	4. Chapter 4

Evie knew all the ins and outs of Mal's sleep long before they were ever married. A tired body rolled over, eyes already adjusted and finding Mal in the dark.  
  
"...Why aren't you asleep?" Evie murmured.  
  
Mal, likewise, knew all the ins and outs of Evie's sleep. She knew from even the most minuscule of shifts and rustles beside her that Evie wasn't asleep either, the same way Evie could tell by how Mal was entirely too still.  
  
"Thinking," Mal said, staring up at the canopy of their massive bed.  
  
"Thinking about what?" Evie yawned.  
  
Mal gave a heavy sigh.  
  
"...Things I've already spent too much time thinking about."  
  
"...Things like the piles of papers waiting on your desk back at the palace?"  
  
Mal rolled over too, forehead to forehead with Evie as they both laid curled up on their sides.  
  
"You remember what it was like at Auradon Prep? Sometimes drowning in homework for days at a time and being  _so_ relieved when it was all done?" Mal asked.  
  
"Mhm."  
  
"Being queen is a lot like that. Except for the tiny little fact that the work is  _never_  done."  
  
"...You've had a lot more all-nighters lately," Evie noted. "I've never slept without you this much before."  
  
"...That's the worst part. Not being here with you and our kids. Ben and his parents were always together, but that's because Belle and Beast dragged him to all the council meetings, every ribbon cutting. That isn't the kind of life Henry and the boys should have. They should be playing, napping, out in the sunshine, driving mommy crazy as she tries to keep a pair of dragons from burning the castle down."  
  
Evie giggled.  
  
"And maybe the whole royal dynamic worked for Ben's family, but it's not me, and it's not us, and...my biggest fear is that we'll end up exactly like them," Mal finished.  
  
Evie shook her head against Mal's.  
  
"No, M. We're nothing like Auradon has ever seen before. Never have been. And if they want us to lead, then we do it our way. Our way means we stick together as a family, not a kingdom."  
  
Mal liked the sound of that.  
  
"I would love for it to just be us again," she said. "If being queen was just like any other job I would quit in a second."  
  
"I don't think you should."  
  
"...What?"  
  
As if distracted by the thought of Mal so cozy beside her, Evie planted a few absentminded kisses on her nose and cheeks before she explained.  
  
"Things in Auradon are  _so_  much better for us now, Mal. I don't mean just you and me, I mean all the villain kids who came from The Isle. But it isn't perfect. There are still people out there who are going to look at Henrietta and see her as nothing but the granddaughter of Maleficent, the exact same way people used to look at you and only see the daughter of Maleficent."  
  
Those words struck like a knife to Mal's heart.  
  
"Our boys? They turn into dragons, M. If they don't learn to control it, they'll be feared and rejected. And even if they do learn to control it, someone somewhere is no doubt going to make them feel ashamed of what they can do, like their dragon side is something that should be kept locked away and hidden, like they shouldn't be allowed to be themselves. You and I are the descendants of villains, and so are our children. As will be so many other children in the kingdom who have yet to be born. Beast and Belle only ever had Auradon's interests at heart when they reigned, never The Isle's or anyone on it. There are a lot of gaps that need to be bridged. And I don't think there's anyone more perfectly suited to do it than a queen who's part Isle, part Auradon."  
  
"...Changing the kingdom," Mal mused. "That's a pretty big job for the daughter of Maleficent."  
  
"No, it's a pretty big job for Mal, and one that she isn't doing alone."  
  
"...For our kids," Mal seemed to agree.  
  
"And every kid who doesn't deserve the life of a descendant. I think maybe that's why Ben chose you to be queen, because he learned what his parents didn't—how to care for those that are different than him. And that's how he learned that real change could only come from someone who's lived both sides. Our moms didn't want to make better lives for their own kids, but we can make better lives for ours."  
  
Mal smiled, kissing Evie in the dark.  
  
"And we will," she promised.  
  
"...But don't let Henrietta convince you that means cookies for breakfast," Evie teased.  
  
"Oh, she can try."  
  
The two moms laughed together, settling down only when Mal brushed her fingers through Evie's hair, watching her eyes twinkle in the darkness from what little moonlight came through the curtains.  
  
"Hey, you know what's really funny?" Mal asked.  
  
"Hm?"  
  
"Mom got her wish of me taking over and ruling Auradon," Mal grinned.  
  
"And my mom got her wish of me marrying royalty," Evie realized with an amused smile.  
  
"Funny how that worked out."  
  
"Hilarious. Although sometimes I do worry about how much Henrietta adores the mirrors her grandmother keeps sending for her birthdays."  
  
"Well, she is her mother's daughter after all," Mal said. "And besides, I'd take the mirrors over the thought of her other grandmother sending cursed spinning wheels. You would not  _believe_ how many nightmares I had before Henry was born about my mom somehow breaking free from The Isle to pay a visit and repeat a little history."  
  
"I could have told you she wouldn't. Maleficent has a flair for style and dramatics, no way is she pulling the same scheme twice. Now, M, you need to get some sleep."  
  
As if on cue, Mal yawned.  
  
"I guess I do," her eyes fluttered shut with the weight of a late night. "...E? Promise you and the kids will be here when I wake up?"  
  
The subject of nightmares had wedged itself in Mal's head a bit, particularly the long-standing worry that someday she might wake up and find herself alone, a poisonous tendril from The Isle that she just couldn't shake. Evie satisfied her with a kiss, snuggling impossibly close.  
  
"I promise. Now go to bed, your majesty."  
  
"You haven't kissed me goodnight yet," Mal pouted.  
  
"I literally just did."  
  
"That was just an average kiss, not a goodnight kiss."  
  
"Oh, so my kisses are average now?" Evie raised an eyebrow.  
  
Mal fumbled for excuses and a rephrasing with the foot in her mouth, but Evie ultimately indulged her with a smile and another soft, sweet kiss.  
  
"Goodnight, Mal."  
  
"...Goodnight, Evie."

* * *

 

There were certain things in Evie's life that she would never forget the sight of. The magical golden bridge taking her away from a life on The Isle, Mal on their wedding day, Henrietta's beautifully crying face seconds after she was born and the twins' wispy tufts of purple when  _they_ were born. Also on that list of unforgettable sights was Mal, not on their wedding day or any other day in fact, but on a night. Cotillion night, years and years ago at Auradon Prep, when Evie first watched a mighty dragon take the place of her very best friend.  
  
Mal didn't have much need to bring the dragon back out as she and Evie grew up, so it wasn't a sight for Evie to become accustomed to, and on the few occasions she saw the dragon it still took her breath away. Like a brilliantly sunny morning out on the royal castle's vast front lawn with Mal taking to the sky, sweeping and diving among the clouds and the picturesque blue. She was flying high, and perhaps showing off a bit, as after all four fascinated pairs of eyes were watching her.  
  
"Wow..." Henrietta breathed, sitting next to Evie on a blanket.  
  
The twins weren't too far away, parked on all fours and laughing at the sight of the dragon whirling through the air. It was what Mal and Evie wanted, for the boys to watch and learn what it was like to take control and keep control of the dragons within them. Mal came down to earth just moments later, transforming back into herself in a cloud of purple and amusingly a little bit out of breath as she made her way to the blanket.  
  
"Getting a little too old for flying?" Evie mercilessly teased.  
  
Mal pointed an accusing finger at her in between pants.  
  
"I am twenty-six, don't even."  
  
She fell flat on the blanket next to Evie and Henrietta, feeling the sun warming her skin. Her daughter leaned over her, peering intently into her face.  
  
"I wanna be a dragon too," Henrietta pouted.  
  
"You do, lil' cub? But then who would be my princess?" Mal pouted right back.  
  
"I'll be your princess," Evie smoothly said.  
  
"I'll bet you will."  
  
"Teach me how to be a dragon!" Henrietta's little hands urgently nudged Mal.  
  
"Henry, you know you don't  _have_  to be like a dragon. You're perfect just the way you are," Mal firmly told her.  
  
Evie giggled.  
  
"She wants to be like you."  
  
Mal looked into Henry's eyes, glittering brightly with excitement and hope.  
  
"...Well, in  _that_ case..."  
  
Evie delighted in the sound of Henrietta's laughter as Mal again made the transformation into mystical dragon, the smoke clearing to reveal Mal looking to her wife and daughter with dazzling emerald eyes. Henrietta squeaked and giggled all the way up, as Evie lifted and settled her onto Mal's back and told her to hang on tight. The twins clapped and squealed when their mom and sister took to the sky, sailing on the wind without a care in the world. And Evie didn't have a care in the world either, not even the reflexive nervous mom jitters that should've accompanied the sight of her daughter so high in the air. Dragon or no dragon, Evie's trust in Mal was complete and total; she knew there was no safer place for Henrietta than on her momma's wings.  
  
So engrossed was she in watching their flight that she almost didn't notice Emery and Elliot had disappeared, replaced with a lilac baby dragon and a dark purple one. The boys, in all their excitement, beat their tiny wings and followed after Mal, rising higher and higher in the sky. Evie smiled brightly to herself. Dragons, queens, princesses—quite the unusual family she and Mal had.  
  
But Evie wouldn't change it for anything.  
  
Mal and her entourage came sailing back down to earth after a couple rounds through the clouds, Mal landing mightily on her claws and shaking the ground while the boys hovered around her.   
  
"Mommy, hop on!" Henrietta waved her over.  
  
Evie didn't have to be told twice, climbing up behind Henrietta and hanging on herself. Somewhat accustomed to the language of dragon grumbles by now, she knew that the growl deep in Mal's throat was a happy one, a blissful one, so grateful to have such a moment with her family.  
  
"Let's go, momma!" the little girl then wiggled where she sat, eager to get Mal back up into the air again.  
  
It wasn't Evie's first dragon ride, but still the rush of flight was something that never got old.  
  
"Mal, where are we going?" she called out over the whoosh of wingbeats as they rose higher and higher.  
  
Evie interpreted the next growl as "anywhere we want".  
  
"Good idea, M," she laughed.  
  
And Mal, ever in tune with her queen, knew exactly what Evie was thinking next. The next dragon grumble was her comical way of telling her "don't even say what I know you're going to say". Evie ignored her and said it anyway, free and lighthearted as she and her family blazed a trail through endless blue and puffs of white.  
  
"The sky's the limit."  
  
A long afternoon of flying led to two very sleepy baby boys who yawned and drowsily bobbed their heads all through their dinner, leading Mal and Evie to promptly tote them off to their nursery for bedtime. In the dark room, Mal snuggled Elliot and Emery into their cribs while Evie sat in a rocking chair, Henrietta curled up in her arms. The little princess had a bit of a long day as well, changed into a nightgown with her head tucked against Evie's chest and listening to her heartbeat as she fought to keep her eyes open. She was trying to watch Mal, Mal who had gotten Elliot comfortably off to sleep but was still working on Emery.  
  
"Come on, Em...nice warm bath, nice warm pajamas, you should be out like a light," Mal rubbed soft circles around his tummy.  
  
"Sounds nice," Evie murmured, a wave of tiredness starting to creep over her as well.  
  
She and Henrietta both kept watch in the dark while Emery tried to drift off.  
  
"Sing our lullaby," Henrietta requested.  
  
A song her moms had sung to her for her entire life, a song they also grew to sing to her brothers when they came along too. Mal looked over her shoulder, finding and meeting Evie's eyes.  
  
"Your lullaby, huh? We haven't done that in a while, have we lil' cub?"  
  
"Nuh uh," Henrietta shook her head.  
  
"Our lullaby it is, then," Evie said.  
  
And with just a glance, that one single meeting of eyes in the dark, Mal and Evie started to sing for their children. Their voices were a perfect harmony, the perfect thing to soothe everyone into the peace of sleep.   
  
 _"You can find me in the space between, where two worlds come to meet, I'll never be out of reach...'cause you're a part of me so you can find me in the space between."_  
  
 _"You'll never be alone,"_ Evie sang by herself, hugging Henrietta close.  
  
 _"No matter where you go,"_ Mal smoothed her hand over Emery's hair.  
  
The two moms let their voices come together once more, the words of the now-lullaby long since etched in their hearts.  
  
 _"We can meet...in the space between."_  
  
Emery gave one final stretch, a dragon-sized yawn, and then he was asleep. His sister wasn't far behind. Evie stood up, carefully cradling the sleepy girl in her arms, and together she and Mal took Henrietta to her room, tucking her into her huge bed. They didn't even have a chance to tell her goodnight, their princess fell straight to sleep the moment her head hit the pillow. So then it was just Mal and Evie ambling down the hall to their own bedroom. Evie found her way into one of Mal's pajama shirts, and although tired themselves the two laid side by side in bed, in no real hurry to drift off.  
  
"I had a good day, Mal," Evie giggled.  
  
"I did too. It's days like this I hang onto when I'm stuck signing decrees and getting my ear talked off by the royal council," Mal rolled over onto her side, facing Evie. "E, the queen thing is no picnic, but I really wouldn't change my life around for the world. You know that, right?"  
  
"Of course I do," Evie assured her. "I mean, sure, sometimes you wish being queen of Auradon wasn't even an issue, but this is who you are. This is your life."  
  
"And it really is nothing to complain about with you and the kids in it," Mal smiled. "This is the life  _you_  helped me make. I don't know where I'd be right now if I never had you."  
  
"Is this your way of telling me that you love me?" Evie teased.  
  
"No. This is."  
  
Mal leaned over Evie to kiss her before flopping back onto her pillow and basking in how wonderfully warm it was to be snuggled up beside her.  
  
"Night, Evie."  
  
"Goodnight, Mal."

* * *

 

It was a wonder Henrietta never got lost, wandering the maze-like halls of the royal castle alone. Even Mal would grudgingly admit that on more than one occasion she made a wrong turn en route to a midnight snack and somehow wound up in the armory. Perhaps it was the preternatural royal instincts inherited from Evie's side of the family that taught her how to work a castle, for when Henrietta grew bored of playing alone in her room she expertly navigated her way to the enormous kitchen, where Evie was cooking dinner. The little girl dragged a stool over from across the room, scooting it next to one of the islands and hopping up, her head just barely peeking over the countertop.  
  
"Mommy, what are we gonna get momma for Mother's Day?" she curiously asked.  
  
Evie didn't even look up from her cutting board.  
  
"That, princess, is a very good question."  
  
Another Mother's Day on the horizon, another battle between Evie's sentimental side to make it the most perfect day for Mal and her competitive side to outdo whatever Mal had in store for her.  
  
"Let's get momma a puppy," Henrietta suggested.  
  
"Momma doesn't need a puppy, she has dragons. What else you got?"  
  
Henry shrugged.  
  
"That's okay, we have time," Evie said.  
  
A little too much time, as far as Henrietta was concerned. Mother's Day breakfast meant blueberry crepes for mommy and strawberry pancakes for momma, and Henrietta would be there to help them eat all of it.  
  
"Let's put it this way. What do you want to get momma for Mother's Day?" Evie asked.  
  
Little Henrietta thought it over, tapping a finger to her chin all the while. Her brothers squeaked from where they sat in their high chairs, but she tuned them out and let nothing break her focus.  
  
"...Doesn't momma like to draw? Like us?"  
  
Evie paused.  
  
"Wow...momma hasn't drawn in a very long time, princess."  
  
Evie had forgotten, forgotten all about the treasured art supplies that sat collecting dust under their bed as Queen Mal had no time to make good use of them.  
  
"Then how about a brand new sketchbook! Or pencils! I want to see momma draw again!" Henrietta planted her hands on the countertop and excitedly lifted herself up.  
  
"So do I," Evie wistfully said.  
  
So very wistfully indeed.  
  
Mal missed dinner that evening, coming through the doors of the castle close to midnight. Evie wasn't there to greet her like she typically was on Mal's late nights, and as Mal wandered the corridors of the castle on her way to the bedroom, she soon found out why. She immediately recognized the purple and blue blurs whizzing around the end of the hallway as her wife and sons, or more specifically, her wife chasing their dragon sons as they sped wildly through the air.  
  
Mal had a secret touch, for when the twins flew overhead and saw their momma standing there, two delighted dragon gurgles heralded their transformation back into toddlers, and in two puffs of purple Elliot dropped right into Mal's arms, and Emery dropped right into Evie's, both boys all smiles.  
  
"...I think we should invest in a butterfly net," Evie said, catching her breath.  
  
"And a water cannon," Mal teased.   
  
Elliot threw his arms around Mal's neck and hid against her shoulder with a giggle, knowing full well the mischief he and his brother had caused at such a late hour. The two moms carried their squirming boys back to the nursery, settling them into their cribs.  
  
"They're up awfully late," Mal noted, tucking one of Elliot's stuffed animals snugly against him.  
  
"They get it from their mom," Evie laughed. "Welcome home, by the way."  
  
"Thanks, E."  
  
With the twins back in bed, Mal and Evie headed for their own, a restful retreat after a long day for them both. Evie, already dressed for bed, bounded up onto the covers like she was still a kid herself and sat there watching as Mal changed into her own pajamas.  
  
"So, princess was wondering what we're going to get you for Mother's Day," Evie said, recapping the events of the day like she usually tended to do when Mal was at work for the majority of it.  
  
"Oh yeah?" Mal yanked her pajama shirt over her head, brushing her fingers through her hair after she did so. "Well, queen's been wondering what she's going to get  _you_  for Mother's Day."  
  
"...I actually have an idea about that. You may not like it, though," Evie anxiously played with her hair as she spoke her words.  
  
Mal climbed up next to Evie, sitting across from her on the bed like they used to do when they were still teenagers settling in for girl talk.  
  
"What do you mean? What wouldn't I like?" Mal curiously asked. "It's Mother's Day, why wouldn't I give you anything and everything you wanted?"  
  
Evie bit her lip, letting her hands fall from her long blue and tucking them in her lap.  
  
"...Because it's Mother's Day, and every year there are two mothers in particular who get left out of the picture.”  
  
Mal's eyes widened.  
  
"...You don't mean—"  
  
"I mean," Evie quickly nodded. "I know M, I know it sounds crazy, but come on, Maleficent and my mother have  _never_  met their grandchildren."  
  
"For good reason," Mal simply said. "They weren't exactly fans of their own children, E."  
  
Evie knew all of it, she knew the words coming out of her mouth and the feelings in her heart were absolutely ridiculous, but that didn't mean she could stop them.  
  
"Mal, we've talked about bridging the gaps between The Isle and Auradon. Don't you think we should start by bridging the gaps in our own family first?"  
  
"Again, that gap is there for a good reason. Our mothers are lunatics."  
  
"My mom sends Henrietta a birthday present every year, that counts for something, doesn't it?" Evie prodded.  
  
"And what about the presents she didn't send the boys when they turned one?" Mal pushed right back.  
  
"She's so holed up on The Isle she probably doesn't even know I  _have_  sons! M, this is what I'm talking about, I want our kids to know where they came from."  
  
"I thought we were saving that talk until they were older," Mal joked.  
  
She succeeded in bringing a laugh out of Evie, Evie who moved to lay down and nestle her head in Mal's lap. Mal glanced down at her, eyes full of love as she combed her fingers through Evie's hair.  
  
"...That's really what you want? For our moms to meet the kids?" Mal asked.  
  
"You're going to tell me it's a terrible idea," Evie sighed.   
  
"As Queen of Auradon, I'm going to tell you that there's no way we're bringing Maleficent and the Evil Queen out from under the barrier and here to the kingdom. As a mom, I'm going to tell you that there's no way we're bringing our kids to the Isle of the Lost...but as your wife, and forever your best friend, I'm going to tell you that if this is what you want, then this is what you'll have."  
  
Evie gasped, her eyes lighting up.  
  
"I'll have to see Fairy Godmother first, see if she has a way to keep our moms powerless while they're here. And my mom agrees to keep her scepter on The Isle or else she doesn't come, I don't need her trying to whack the twins out of the air like piñatas. And if—"  
  
"Mal," Evie gently interrupted. "You and I will sort out all the details together, don't worry. There's still a lot of time left before Mother's Day, you don't have to stress about it all right this second."  
  
She sat up then, her hair falling into her face as she scooted and leaned in close to Mal.  
  
"But M...thank you," she quietly said. "I know this is the last thing you'd ever want to do. But even if we don't like it, they're still our moms, and as moms ourselves...well, like I said, there's a gap that needs to be bridged. You and I never knew our grandparents, our lives began and ended with our mothers. I just want our kids to know their family."  
  
"...They'll know their family," Mal promised with a slow nod. "But I'm calling it right now; this is going to be one heck of a family reunion."  
  
Mal knew right then and there that the smile from Evie was worth all the trouble about to head their way. Mal would do anything for that smile, and gave it a soft kiss as Evie giggled against her lips.  
  
"That it will, Mal. It definitely will."


	5. Chapter 5

Mal hoped it wasn't a scrapbook, or a photo album. She'd bawl right into her strawberry pancakes if it was. It was definitely a book of some kind, she could tell that through the wrapping paper. And with a smile she could also tell exactly where Henrietta had tried her hand at wrapping before Evie came in and took over for her.  
  
"Open it, momma!" Henrietta bounced in her chair at the breakfast table.  
  
Still, Mal hesitated. She looked to her wife with a nervous smile.  
  
"It's not going to make me cry, is it?" she asked.  
  
"I can't promise that, Mal," Evie smirked. 

Elliot and Emery fussed a bit from their highchairs, arms stretched out towards Mal as their eyes were drawn to the bright and shiny wrapping paper.  
  
"Momma!" Elliot whined, tongue poking through the few teeth he had as he focused very intently on the gift that dared to not be his.  
  
"I'd open it before the boys do it for you," Evie laughed.  
  
So Mal prepared herself to bawl into her strawberry pancakes and started to tear away at the wrapping paper around her Mother's Day gift. Before the twins could fly from their highchairs and start an all-out brawl, Evie gave them the discarded pieces of paper so they could pacify themselves with ripping it to shreds.   
  
It was indeed a book, with a cover that was white, but certainly not blank. Colorful handprints decorated the front, the largest one done with paint of royal blue, then three smaller ones of sky blue, purple, and lilac. Mal needed no explanation to recognize the handprints of her wife and children. She smiled, running her fingers along the dried paint.  
  
"Look at that," she said.  
  
"Open the book! Open the book!" Henrietta prodded.  
  
Bracing herself one last time, Mal did so, not knowing what she'd find inside but...really not expecting to find blank, empty sheets of paper as she turned the pages.  
  
"...A sketchbook?" she said quietly.  
  
"We've decided that momma has spent too much time being Queen Mal and not enough time being Mal," Evie said matter-of-factly.  
  
"You should draw again! Like me and mommy!" Henrietta said with a beaming grin.  
  
"And we all know how enticing a brand new sketchbook is," Evie slyly told her.  
  
There were the tears, sneaking up on her.  
  
"You guys..." she said quietly.  
  
Henrietta jumped down from her seat and ran around the table to Mal, hopping up into her lap and settling in.  
  
"Do you like it?" she asked her mother.  
  
"I  _love_ it, Henry."  
  
Mal hugged her close. Her little girl was so warm in her embrace, so soft. Children ran to their mothers' arms for comfort, but little did Henry know that Mal found just as much comfort in her and the twins. Holding them, hugging them, getting lost in the sweet and clean scent from their baths, it was how Mal reminded herself that this was all real. Her happy ending. The story of how two lost girls from The Isle fell in love and made the family they'd secretly always dreamed of.  
  
"Looks like we both got a little sentimental in gift-giving this year," Mal said, looking across the table to Evie.  
  
"M, what did you get me?" Evie giggled. "I told you arranging for our mothers to visit was enough of a present."  
  
Mal whispered something in Henry's ear, and the princess promptly hopped back down from Mal's lap and zipped away. When she returned, she returned with one of Evie's many jewelry boxes. This one was her favorite, albeit a bit morbid in the fact that it was actually the box her mother once intended to keep Snow White's heart in, but leave it to Evie to turn lemons into lemonade.  
  
"...This is my jewelry box," she very obviously noted, confused as Henrietta set it down in front of her and returned to her own seat at the table.  
  
"Yeah, but have you  _really_  taken a good look at it lately?"  
  
Still confused, Evie nonetheless got the hint and opened the box, overcome with a gasp as she peeked inside. Gone away was all the jewelry she usually kept within, the only thing she found now was a shining silver bracelet, adorned with charms. Evie handled it like it was made of the most fragile of glass when she took it out to get a closer look at the charms.   
  
A purple crystal cut into many glittering facets sat next to the most beautiful blue sapphire Evie had ever seen, twinkling inside like a galaxy of stars and crisscrossed with bands of silver. Then there was a dangling tiara charm, fitted to a clasp with "Princess" engraved into the silver in an elegant script. A dragon's left wing stretched to take flight carried an "E" on the back in the same fancy script, and next to it on the bracelet was a dragon's right wing, the back of the charm adorned with an "Em."  
  
Mal, Evie, Henrietta, Elliot, and Emery. Charms for Evie and all of her family. The perfect accessory for any and all occasions.  
  
"Mal..." now Evie was the one blinking back tears.  
  
"Our lil' cub picked hers out all on her own," Mal said.  
  
"I'm a princess!!" Henrietta beamed.  
  
Mal stood up from her chair and went over to where Evie sat, taking the bracelet and fastening it around her wrist before leaning over her for a long and loving kiss. Henrietta giggled.  
  
"Happy Mother's Day, Evie."  
  
"Happy Mother's Day, Mal.”

 

* * *

Of course.

Of course the chefs would be baking a fabulous and extravagant Mother's Day cake for Mal and Evie, and of course the dragon twins would break free and fly right into an oversized bag of flour mere moments before Maleficent and the Evil Queen were scheduled to arrive. The boys were not very happy with their subsequent baths, and even less happy as Evie brushed their hair in the nursery and Henrietta struggled to get their shoes onto their petulantly kicking feet. Times like these, they were definitely Mal's children.  
  
"If you're trying to make a good impression on Grandma Maleficent, I have to say, you're doing an excellent job," Evie huffed, she and Henrietta utterly fighting against the twins as they squirmed and fussed.  
  
Henry huffed just like her mother as she finally managed to get at least one of Emery's shoes velcroed up.  
  
"Boys are so much  _trouble!"_  she pouted.  
  
"And that's why mommy married a girl."  
  
A frantic Mal came hurrying up the hall, poking her head into the room.  
  
"Okay, they're like,  _five_ minutes away. Are the boys clean yet??"  
  
"Their version of clean or our version of clean?" Evie grumbled, tucking Elliot's shirt into his pants.    
  
It was one thing for Mal and Evie to see their moms again after so long. It was a whole other ballpark entirely for Mal and Evie to come face to face with  _each other's_  mom. Mal had a hard enough time with the Evil Queen when she was just her girlfriend's mother, color her less than eager to face the Evil Queen again now that she'd been upgraded to mother-in-law. If the kids weren't absolutely spotless, Mal would never hear the end of it.  
  
"Okay! Done!" Evie quickly said, hoisting the twins onto their feet.  
  
Mal wasn't about to let Evie put the boys into toddler-sized tuxedos for the occasion, but still Evie had insisted they look nice. And they did, their pants without a single wrinkle and their matching purple polos properly buttoned up. When Henrietta caught Mal's eyes on her she gave a twirl in her little dress, handmade by Evie with satin ruffles and a sparkly beaded waist.  
  
"Okay, Lumiere and the limo will be here any minute with them," Mal hurried to explain.  
  
"And their magic?" Evie fretted, crouching down to smooth out Henrietta's dress.  
  
"Fairy Godmother made the necklaces to inhibit their powers, once they're on they can't be taken off until our moms are back under The Isle's barrier. Lumiere's already called and told me they're wearing them," Mal assured her.  
  
"Did we hide the good silverware?"  
  
"Plumette is guarding it with her life."  
  
"What are we forgetting?" Evie wondered.  
  
"To calm down?"  
  
"Yeah, fat chance."  
  
Emery quickly decided he was bored of standing and plopped down onto his butt to make an attempt to unfasten one of his shoes. Elliot, seeing this, sat down to do the same.  
  
"Whoa, hey, I don't think so," Mal hurried into the room to scoop up Emery into the crook of her arm and take Elliot by the hand, watching the two like a hawk lest they somehow find a way to get into even more trouble.  
  
"...We should go out to meet them," Evie suggested.  
  
"Yeah, we should," Mal agreed.  
  
Neither one of them budged. Henrietta looked up at her moms in confusion.  
  
"...You're not moving," she whispered helpfully to them.  
  
"...Let the record show that this was your idea," Mal said to Evie in a last-minute panic.  
  
"Let the record show that you agreed to it."  
  
"Only because I'm hopelessly in love with you."  
  
"Well that's your fault, isn't it?"  
  
Like ripping off a band-aid they decided to just go for it, Mal with the twins, Evie with Henrietta. Outside the castle, the sky was clear, the sun was warm, and the birds were chirping. A perfect day for annihilation. The grass crunched under their feet as they all crossed the front lawn down to the gravel road leading to and from the castle.  
  
"E, Em, you two behave," Mal warned the twins. Her mom voice wasn't something she used very often, but she was certainly in need of it now.  
  
Elliot and Emery could of course make no promises.  
  
It was after what felt like both forever and no time at all that a black limousine sporting the royal flags appeared in the distance, coming up the road.  
  
"...She's baa-aack," Mal muttered under her breath.  
  
"Well, the fact that our moms survived the entire car ride together without tearing each other apart points to them being in a good mood today," Evie noted.  
  
"Here's hoping."  
  
The car drew to a stop right in front of them, and when the engine cut, Lumiere was out.  
  
"Loomair!!" Emery wiggled excitedly in Mal's hold, recognizing the family friend. Elliot laughed like the sight of Lumiere was the funniest thing in the world.   
  
With a smile and a bow Lumiere greeted the royal family before striding purposefully to the end of the limo.  
  
"Your majesties, I present to you...your mothers."  
  
He opened the car door with a flourish, and there they were. A pair of horns ducking out, green eyes flashing, purple and black robes flowing. A crown, a piercing gaze, queenly raiments of blue, black, red.  
  
"Ugh, I don't remember Auradon being this  _bright,"_ Maleficent had a scowl all ready and waiting, squinting terribly and swatting at the air like she was trying to physically knock the sunlight out of it.  
  
She stopped in her tracks when she caught sight of Mal, Evie close beside her, and the three very small people huddled along with them.  
  
"...Well well well, look what we have here," her smile was wicked and scheming, but Mal thought nothing of it—that was really the only kind of smile her mother was capable of.  
  
The Evil Queen wasn't far behind, shouldering past Maleficent to get her bearings as well.  
  
"Evie!" she exclaimed.  
  
Evie steeled herself with a deep breath and gave a big grin.  
  
"Hi mommy," she greeted her.  
  
Her mother hurried over, and for the briefest of seconds Evie thought her mom might actually give her a hug, but she instead tucked a finger under Evie's chin, turning her head this way and that to have a studying look at her.  
  
"Stunning," she haughtily said, deciding Evie passed.  
  
Mother didn't find a single flaw to point out and obsess over? She really must have been in a good mood. Then the Evil Queen noticed the wide brown eyes looking up at her, big and round and full of Auradon innocence.  
  
"...Is this your daughter?" she asked, looking back and forth between Evie and the little girl as if comparing the similarities.  
  
Mal cleared her throat.  
  
"Um,  _our_ daughter, yes," she clarified.  
  
Evie reached down and ran her fingers through her princess' blue hair, smiling proudly.  
  
"This is our Henrietta. Henrietta, say hi to grandma."  
  
"Hi grandma!!" Henrietta said pleasantly, giving a perfect curtsy.  
  
The Evil Queen went stiff as a board while Maleficent snorted beside her.   
  
"Oh no no Evie dear, 'grandma' will have to go," the Evil Queen quickly said.  
  
Evie laughed.  
  
"Well she needs something to call you," she pointed out.  
  
Evie's mother gingerly patted Henrietta on the head like one would anxiously pat a dog that might snap and bite.  
  
"She can just call me 'EQ'."  
  
"Yes Mal, don't put me down for 'grandma' either," Maleficent waved the notion off.  
  
"Mom, your grandkids can't just call you 'Evil Queen'," Evie shook her head.  
  
"Queenie!" Emery blurted, reaching his hands out as if to be held by her.  
  
Mal and Evie exchanged a smirk.  
  
"...And who is that?" Evie's mother raised one thin eyebrow.  
  
"This is Emery, and his brother Elliot," Mal introduced them to the villains, telling them apart as only a mother could. "These are our boys."  
  
"Evie? You have  _three_  children?" the Evil Queen was astounded.  
  
"The three best children in the world," Evie beamed.  
  
Maleficent laughed her snorting laugh again and elbowed the Evil Queen.  
  
"And you could barely handle one," she chided.  
  
The same could've been said for her, but Mal thought better of it and kept her mouth shut.  
  
"What are the kids going to call  _you,_  mom?" she asked.  
  
"Obviously they will call me Maleficent, mistress of all evil!!" Maleficent said with a flourish of her cape.  
  
"Missy," Elliot giggled, saying 'mistress of evil' as best he could.  
  
"...How charming," Maleficent rolled her eyes.  
  
Already the boys were showing a talent for bothering Maleficent. Just like their momma. Mal couldn't help but feel a grimly twisted sense of pride at that, eyeing Emery with a mischievous gaze as she held him in her arms.  
  
"...Em, why don't you go ahead and fly for Missy?" she said to him.  
  
The Evil Queen frowned.  
  
"Fly?"  
  
Without a word, Mal tossed the toddler high up into the air, and with one peal of shrieking laughter a puff of purple smoke turned him into a dragon, zipping and zooming through the air. Elliot was never one to be left out when his brother got up to his antics, and then he was eagerly spreading his wings too, the two of them very much seeming like they were putting on a show with dips and loops.  
  
"...They're  _dragons,"_ Maleficent said in awe, watching them race through the air.  
  
Evie leaned over and whispered to Mal.  
  
"You couldn't even wait ten minutes before you showed off?"  
  
"Can I help it if my kids are cool?" Mal whispered back.  
  
By the time one little dragon dropped into Mal's arms and another one dropped into Evie's to change back into brightly smiling boys, Maleficent had a fiendish twinkle in her eyes.  
  
"Excellent..." she said, imagining all the chaos two dragons could cause as they flew through the kingdom.  
  
Mal of course recognized that look anywhere.  
  
"...Mother, they're our sons, not weapons of mass destruction."  
  
"Potato, potahto," Maleficent shrugged.  
  
"...Well, Lumiere, thank you so much for bringing them here to the castle," Evie clasped her hands and bowed her head to Lumiere, who bowed back before disappearing into the limo and driving away. "And mom, Maleficent...welcome to Auradon."  
  
Toting the kids along, Mal and Evie led the way up to the castle with their moms following behind, curiously studying the green of the grass, the flowers, the fluffy clouds in the sky.  
  
"I don't remember any of this," Maleficent grumbled again.  
  
"Interesting what you forget when you're locked away inside an island prison," the Evil Queen agreed.  
  
Guilt-tripping. A standard weapon in a mother-in-law's bag of tricks, Mal supposed. Draped over her shoulder, Emery watched Maleficent with a very fixated expression. Maleficent made a face at him, intending to frighten, but the little prince only laughed.  
  
It seemed like there was so much to catch up on, yet 'catching up' wasn't exactly part of the villain family dynamic.  
  
"Oh, um...happy Mother's Day," Mal remembered to say, turning around as they all stood in the castle foyer.  
  
"Happy Mother's Day, mommy," Evie said too.  
  
"...Well, we should be saying the same to you two, shouldn't we?" Maleficent pointed out.  
  
Just pointed out. She and the Evil Queen didn't actually say it back.  
  
"...So, a tour?" Mal suggested.  
  
She really had no idea what else to do.  
  
"Yeah!" Henrietta eagerly agreed. "You can see my room, grandma! ...Oops, I mean, Queenie."  
  
The Evil Queen again patted Henrietta's head.  
  
"Aren't you a little darling."  
  
"Mommy says I'm the fairest of them all," the princess proudly told her grandmother.  
  
"She would," Maleficent jeered. "She's the spitting image of you, Evie. How old is she?"  
  
"Five," Evie answered, unsure whether to take Maleficent showing interest as a good or a bad sign.  
  
"Five, huh? Better hope her sixth birthday party turns out better than yours," Maleficent chuckled.  
  
"Mom..." Mal frowned.  
  
"I'm only kidding, Mal. Don't be so serious. It's your day, live a little!"  
  
If it was her day, it was turning out to be a very long one indeed.  
  
"Look at my Mal," Maleficent smugly said to the Evil Queen as they all ascended the grand staircase. "A castle, a kingdom, an army of dragons, she's seized it all."  
  
"Army of dragons..." Evie scoffed under her breath. "Maleficent, only the castle staff would agree that Elliot and Emery are an army."  
  
"And what about the princess? What does she do?" Maleficent questioned, eyeing Henrietta.  
  
"Henry isn't a dragon, if that's what you mean," Mal said.  
  
"Maybe someday," Henrietta shrugged and gave her momma a hopeful smile.  
  
"Yeah, lil' cub. Maybe someday."  
  
The grand tour finished up in the castle's sitting room, where finally the unconventional family had a chance to sit and properly bask in the awkward tension of their little Mother's Day get-together. Maleficent shying away from the light through the lattice windows and grumbling about pulling the drapes shut lightened the mood for Evie, at least, reminding her of the very first day at Auradon Prep years and years ago, of Mal doing the exact same thing the second she set foot in their dorm room.  
  
They'd certainly come a very long way.  
  
The twins were utterly pacified by their curiosity for their grandmothers, eyes practically glued to the Evil Queen and Maleficent like if they stared long enough they might make some sense of them. Heck,  _Mal_ was still trying to make some sense of them. Her own mother, well, her heart was as black as the flashy robes she sported. But out of all of the VKs' parents, the Evil Queen was always the one who had the softest spot for her kid. Mal had heard that children growing up and having children of their own tended to be a pretty big emotional milestone for moms. She wondered if she'd get to see her mother-in-law crack.  
  
"...Mom, Maleficent, we invited you here today so you and your grandchildren could finally meet," Evie began, comfortable on one of the plush royal couches with Henrietta on her lap and Mal and the boys beside her. "With Mal being queen, there's a lot that we're hoping to fix in the kingdom. The relationship between Isle and Auradon, for one."  
  
"King Ben stayed true to his word and helped bring all the villain kids over when he was still alive, but that doesn't mean all The Isle's problems are automatically solved," Mal added.  
  
Maleficent was far from moved.  
  
"Your point?"  
  
Mal sighed.  
  
"Mom, we're trying to make better lives for our children. I get that that concept is lost on you, but just listen. You and EQ are still our family. If you can act like it today and behave yourselves, if two of the worst villains out there can spend just one day off of The Isle, then maybe there's a place for you here in the kingdom."  
  
"...She sounds like a queen of Auradon," EQ noted.  
  
"How annoying," Maleficent mumbled.  
  
"Look, if you want to keep living on a floating landfill with a staticky tv that gets like, what, one channel? Then as we say here in Auradon, be our guest," Mal went on. "All we're doing is offering you a chance to change your lives around, the same chance that Ben gave us."  
  
"And we'd like our children to be able to grow up knowing their family, knowing who and what they come from."  
  
"Overrated," Maleficent yawned.  
  
Things were certainly going well.  
  
"What exactly do you  _do_ in a castle like this all day?" Mal's mom demanded. "No dark corners to lurk around in, no high towers to glare at the general population from—"  
  
"A startling lack of mirrors," the Evil Queen added. "Evie, I'm disappointed in you."  
  
"We find ways to keep busy," Mal flatly said, stifling an eye roll.  
  
"Mommy and I like to design, and then mommy sews all her clothes for her store!" Henrietta answered Maleficent's question.  
  
"When I'm not chasing down the boys, that is," Evie lightly laughed.  
  
Her mom fixed Mal with a scowl.  
  
"How typical of your daughter, Maleficent. She runs off to play queen and leaves  _my_ daughter stuck at home taking care of her children."  
  
"That's my nasty little girl," Maleficent cackled.  
  
_"Our_ children," Mal had to specify for the second time that day. "You're forgetting the one tiny detail that Evie and I are married."  
  
"Mal..." Evie sighed heavily and put her hand on Mal's arm. She knew the growing tensions in the room weren't at all good for the kids, and everyone needed to dial it back a bit.  
  
Far easier said and thought than done.  
  
Elliot, who had wiggled his way away from Mal moments ago and now sat quietly on the floor, suddenly stood up and toddled across the carpet to drape himself over Maleficent's knee.  
  
"...He wants you to hold him," Mal explained, a small smile stealing across her face.  
  
"Come again?" Maleficent frowned.  
  
"Pick him up," Evie laughed. "He wants to see you."  
  
Elliot's fingers curled and uncurled in a wave to prove the point.  
  
Maleficent's blank expression looked to the Evil Queen, who only shrugged at her, but she eventually conceded and reached down to pick the baby up, holding him at length like one traditionally holds a smelly sock.  
  
"Hi Missy," Elliot greeted her.  
  
Maleficent blinked a couple times, as if stunned to hear words from someone so small. Did Mal do that when she was that small? She couldn't for the life of her remember.  
  
"Oh. Hello," Maleficent stiffly said.  
  
Elliot struggled to reach for her, and reluctantly, Maleficent drew him in closer. He had his eye on the horns, curiously grabbing at them when he had the chance. Mal  _did_  do that when she was that small, Maleficent remembered that much. She'd just never allowed it.  
  
"He looks just like you, Mal," Maleficent realized.  
  
Purple hair and green eyes, sure, but there were other little things Maleficent was noticing now that she'd taken an actual look. His little nose, the curve of his cheeks, the exact way his smile turned the corners of his lips.  
  
"Nonsense, my Evie's genes are too good to be passed up. Let me have a look," the Evil Queen insisted.  
  
Mal was up on her feet then with Emery in tow.  
  
"Come on Em, let's go see Queenie."  
  
Each of them held a twin now, both examining and being examined.  
  
"Aha! Nonsense. These are Evie's eyes, no doubt about it," the Evil Queen said.  
  
"But they're green, like momma's," Henrietta was confused.  
  
"The color may be Mal's, but these eyes are mommy's."  
  
Something ran through Evie when she heard her mother referring to her as mommy, something warm and wonderful and too good to be true. Mal noticed as well, silently meeting Evie's eyes with a gentle smile.  
  
"When were they born?" the Evil Queen asked.  
  
"They'll be two next month," Mal said.  
  
The Evil Queen looked to Maleficent.  
  
"And to think we had no idea."  
  
"Yes, Mal, any other 'trade secrets' we should know about?" Maleficent narrowed her eyes.  
  
"We weren't trying to keep the boys a secret, we just...this is what we're talking about, mom. The Isle and Auradon are so separate that we have no idea what's going on with each other."  
  
"Hopefully we can change that," Evie added.  
  
The Evil Queen looked skeptical. Maleficent looked admittedly hilarious with a baby clinging to her horn.  
  
"Grandmothers get to be the cool ones, you know. They get to teach the kids all the fun stuff they know their parents would never approve of, and they get to spoil them rotten," Mal tried to entice.  
  
"Henrietta gets a lovely mirror from me every year for her birthday," EQ smugly said to Maleficent.  
  
Henrietta giggled.  
  
"I love them, Queenie."  
  
"See? She loves them."  
  
"You could give her your gift in person next year," Evie eagerly suggested. "You and Maleficent both, you could be here for all the birthdays, all the holidays..."  
  
"Without my scepter and wearing this ridiculous trinket?" Maleficent gestured in irritation to the magic necklace Fairy Godmother had crafted, a pendant of Mal's double dragon crest with Evie's crown crest on top.  
  
Mal understood completely.  
  
"Mom, I'm the last person who would ever want to take your magic away from you. Believe me, I've been there. But if you're going to be around our kids, going to be in  _Auradon,_  you have to prove to us that you won't use your powers for evil. And that may take you a while. None of this is going to happen overnight, but today would be a good start."  
  
"You act as if we  _want_ to be a part of your silly little kingdom of goodness and talking animals," Maleficent snapped.  
  
"...Yeah, that's a pretty big if," Mal realized. "...But it's just something to think about, mom."  
  
A silence fell over them like a thick blanket until Evie thought to tug it away.  
  
"The chefs were making a Mother's Day cake for us. Why don't we go down to the dining hall and have it with some ice cream?" she lightly suggested.  
  
"Cake and ice cream!" Henrietta bounced in Evie's lap.  
  
Maleficent's face twisted in a sneer.  
  
"You'd actually eat that horrid slop?"  
  
"Trust me Maleficent, the food on The Isle is the real horrid slop," Evie said.  
  
Mal stood up, walking over to take Elliot back so they could all head to the dining hall, but Maleficent leaned him out of her reach.  
  
"I have him, Mal. What do you think I am, incompetent?"  
  
Whoa. What world did Mal just walk into?  
  
"Oh, um...no, of course not, I just didn't think—"  
  
"Oh just let your mother hold him Mal, it's not like she's going to drop him on his head," the Evil Queen boredly said, intending herself to keep ahold of Emery.  
  
"...Sure thing, EQ."  
  
Mal really didn't think she'd be seeing this. The sight of her mother and the Evil Queen carrying the twins was an unnerving one, to say the least. And she didn't know what to make of EQ's comment about Maleficent not dropping Elliot on his head. Evie didn't either, apparently.  
  
"Um, maybe we should..." she anxiously began, moving close to her mother with her arms automatically out to take Emery.  
  
"Take a chill pill glamor queen, you'll turn your pretty hair gray," Maleficent turned her attention to Henrietta. "You, princess! Come here."  
  
Henrietta obediently skipped over.  
  
"You like cake?" Maleficent asked.  
  
"And ice cream, too!" Henrietta nodded fervently.  
  
"Hmph. You need work, kiddo."  
  
Once again, Mal wondered just what sort of universe she'd accidentally stumbled into when they'd all moved to the dining hall.  
  
"No, mom, the tray goes back.  _Back,_ mom, pull the tray back first."  
  
"I've  _got it,_  Mal!!" Maleficent snapped, insisting she knew what she was doing as she clearly struggled to fit Elliot into his high chair.  
  
She didn't have it.  
  
"Okay, well, it'd go a lot smoother if he had one leg on each side," Mal tried to wedge her way in alongside her mother so her son could actually eat sometime before the sun went down, but Maleficent stubbornly elbowed her away.  
  
"Maybe if your ridiculous Auradon contraptions weren't so complicated," Maleficent growled.  
  
Evie, standing by her mother and bouncing Emery on her side, could only wickedly smirk.  
  
"Just wait until you see a car seat."  
  
"Mom, could I just—"  
  
"Tray back, yes, I heard you Mal!"  
  
"Just let me—"  
  
"Mal Bertha, so help me..."  
  
It seemed to be an impossible feat, but eventually Elliot was indeed buckled and snug in a high chair, as was his brother.  
  
"Unbelievable," Maleficent side-eyed Mal while she took a seat and angrily scooted her chair in. "We didn't have any of this nonsense on The Isle when you were growing up."  
  
"Yeah, all that basic safety nonsense," Mal dryly said.  
  
Henry pulled back the chair right next to Maleficent and clambered onto it.  
  
"What was momma like when she was little?" she eagerly asked.  
  
"Trouble," Maleficent said.  
  
Henrietta looked to Mal with big, surprised eyes.  
  
_"Really?"_  
  
"Your brothers had to get it from somewhere, didn't they?" Evie told her, grinning slyly at Mal.  
  
"You weren't exactly a pretty pink princess yourself, E."  
  
"Was until I met you."  
  
"Ah, yes. When Evie met Mal," Maleficent faked her wistfulness. "Things were so much simpler before Evie met Mal."  
  
"You're telling me," EQ agreed, remembering how Mal threw one heck of a wrench into her plans for Evie to snag a prince.  
  
Somehow, some way...they actually ended up reminiscing. With slices of three-layer cake and bowls of decadent vanilla ice cream in front of them, they were reminiscing.  
  
"You didn't invite momma to your birthday party??" Henrietta gasped. The ultimate crime in the eyes of a five year old.  
  
"Henry, no, that's not what happened," Mal quickly told her.  
  
"Making me look bad, Maleficent?" Evie laughed.  
  
"I just tell 'em like I see 'em."  
  
"You could tell your granddaughter how you spent two years as a lizard," Mal teased.  
  
"Yuck!" Henrietta stuck her tongue out at the thought. Maleficent raised an eyebrow at her.  
  
"What? The boy wonders can fly around as dragons but you stick your tongue out at a little lizard? You need your priorities straightened out, kid."  
  
As if Maleficent was going to admit to being comically offended.  
  
"She's exactly like her mommy. A princess has no business with all the slimy things that scuttle around in the dirt," the Evil Queen said.  
  
"Princesses are entirely too much trouble," Maleficent scoffed.  
  
"I like them," Mal grinned, feeding Elliot a spoonful of her ice cream.  
  
"Then clearly the apple falls far from the tree," her mother grumbled.  
  
"Well, I'm glad."  
  
"I'm glad too," Evie said. "Maleficent, you know I love Mal more than anything. Our family is our whole world. We're happy here in Auradon, can you say the same about The Isle?"  
  
Maleficent and the Evil Queen didn't say anything at all.  
  
"Will you and Queenie stay here in Auradon?" Henrietta asked with such childlike innocence.  
  
"Queenie only stays in castles," Evie said softly, smoothing back Henry's hair.  
  
"But we have a castle! They can stay here with us!"  
  
Mal and Evie didn't even have to share one of their looks to know that no way would they survive that. To their credit, they did manage to survive an entire afternoon, and as everyone later strolled outside along the vast front lawn, they all knew the sun would soon be setting on a Mother's Day for the history books.  
  
"Sorry you were pretty much confined to the castle grounds, but Auradon isn't ready to see you two back yet," Mal said, walking beside her mom and watching Elliot stumble after a butterfly.  
  
"She makes a very smart queen," EQ remarked.  
  
"Of course she does, because I myself am very smart, and therefore, Mal is very smart," Maleficent sharply said.  
  
"But maybe someday this can all change," Evie stayed optimistic. "You guys can see where Mal and I went to school, where we were married, our old house in the city..."  
  
"Only if you prove yourselves to Auradon the way we had to prove ourselves," Mal clarified. "So, like I said, think about it. If you want to spend the rest of your lives on the Isle of the Lost, we won't stop you. But if you want a change of pace, let us know."  
  
"You have an open invitation to be here for the twins' birthday next month. Just as long as you leave the decade-long banishments on The Isle, Maleficent."  
  
Maleficent huffed.  
  
Henrietta gave into the mischievous side of her that was very rare, but far from non-existent. With a playfully sinister "I'm gonna get you!" she started to chase her brothers all across the clean-cut lawn, the three of them running ahead as fast as their legs could carry them.  
  
"Huh. Not such a pretty pink princess after all."  
  
That was what passed for Maleficent's version of impressed.  
  
For a moment they all stood and just watched the kids zip around and around, simply transfixed.  
  
"...Thank you for coming today," Evie risked everything and gave her mom a hug, not quite receiving one back but not being urgently shoved away, either. She would take what she could get.  
  
Mal knew better than to try such a stunt with her own mother, but could at least manage a thank you.  
  
"Yeah mom, thank you. I'm glad you and EQ got to meet the kids."  
  
Lumiere would soon be back with the limousine, and they would soon be saying goodbye.  
  
"They could use some more mischief, but they'll do," Maleficent idly said.  
  
"You just make sure to teach that girl how to properly be a princess," the Evil Queen firmly told her daughter.  
  
Evie's smile was calm, and easy.  
  
"I am, mom. But not the way you taught me. I don't teach her how to do makeup or paint nails or bat her eyes. I teach her how to be kind, and brave, and smart."  
  
"A real princess," Mal twined her fingers through Evie's. "Just like her mommy."  
  
"Ugh, somebody call the limo before I drown in all this goody-goodness," Maleficent scowled, scanning the horizon for the car in question.  
  
Evie and Mal just laughed.  
  
The telltale twinkling sound of magic drew four pairs of eyes back out across the lawn, where Emery and Elliot had taken to the skies in their escape from their sister.  
  
"Hey!! Not fair!!"  
  
Henrietta had a royal pout worthy of a princess. She stomped her foot, threatening to turn as red as a certain tinkering fairy as she watched her brothers climb higher and higher with every beat of their wings.  
  
"E! Em! Get back here!" she shouted, appalled by the blatant cheating.  
  
They wouldn't heed. They just circled around and around, happily keeping their distance and basking in their sister's growing irritation.  
  
Then suddenly, Henry was gone. A swell of deep blue smoke going up where she'd stood.  
  
And the last time Evie had squeezed Mal's hand that hard was when two impish twins were busy being born.  
  
_"Mal,"_ she gasped, eyes like saucers.  
  
Mal's jaw dropping was one thing. Mal's jaw completely clattering to the ground when a dragon of glittering sapphire scales emerged from the smoke and flew a few awkward wingbeats was something else entirely.   
  
"Hey!! Atta girl!!" Maleficent cheered, fiendishly delighted.  
  
"...Well," the Evil Queen sighed to herself. "...There goes the kingdom."

* * *

 

The twins were tucked in their cribs, and Henrietta's bedtime too was fast approaching, but as she raced around the carpet in the sitting room with her arms outstretched, reenacting her thrilling afternoon, it was clear to both moms that she wouldn't be sleeping anytime soon. The room's grand double doors had been left thrown open, and from the hallway came Plumette, knocking lightly to announce her presence and then bowing when she had the family's attention.  
  
"Your majesties, you have guests," she said.  
  
Mal frowned.  
  
"...What? At this time of night?"  
  
Cozy in Mal's lap as they sat on the floor, Evie was perplexed as well.   
  
"Who, Plumette?"  
  
With a little smile, Plumette didn't even answer. She merely dismissed herself and disappeared along down the corridor.  
  
Then Jay was bounding into the room, armed with a giant bouquet, an even more giant grin, and a box of chocolates.  
  
"Happy Mother's Day," he greeted.  
  
Carlos was right behind him, making his entrance with a second giant bouquet, a second giant grin, and a second box of chocolates.  
  
"Happy Mother's Day," he said too.  
  
"Uncle Jay!! Uncle Carlos!!" Henrietta squealed, rushing straight for them.  
  
They of course still had plenty of room in their arms for Henrietta, crouching down to catch her and hug her tight.  
  
"Hey, princess!" Carlos laughed, getting the first hug.  
  
"We heard you had a pretty big day today," Jay said when it was his turn.  
  
"That she did," Evie giggled.  
  
She and Mal were on their feet, crossing the room to meet the boys at the door. Jay bowed just for the fun of it before presenting his gifts to Mal, and Carlos presented his to Evie.  
  
"...You guys, they're beautiful," Mal's eyes sparkled as she studied the flowers.  
  
"...Beyond beautiful, thank you so,  _so_ much," Evie kissed Carlos' cheek and hugged him so warmly while Mal happily got herself caught in the bear-like grip of one of Jay's hugs.  
  
"We would've stopped by sooner, but we heard you guys had a pretty big day today too," Carlos said.  
  
"Pretty big almost doesn't even cover it," Mal chuckled.  
  
Jay stooped over so Henrietta could climb his back and sit atop his shoulders.  
  
"How'd it go?" he wondered, bouncing the little girl around.  
  
"...Better than expected, actually," Evie admitted.  
  
"Meaning they didn't try to take over the kingdom or curse our firstborn," Mal explained. "So, a plus."  
  
"It's a Mother's Day miracle," Carlos teased.  
  
"A lot of those going around," Evie said with a smile. "...Hey Mal? Is it too late to tell you I have another present for you?"  
  
Mal shook her head as she took Evie's gifts and stacked the chocolates on the long coffee table, propped the bouquets up inside an empty vase until they could be set in water.  
  
"E, you didn't have to get me anything else," she told her, playfully scolding Evie for going through the trouble.  
  
"I know, but it was just so last minute, I couldn't help myself."  
  
"You're not used to Evie spoiling you by now? Come on, girl," now it was Carlos who playfully scolded.  
  
Mal laughed, so carefree and light as she stood in a room with the people she loved most of all.  
  
"Okay, what did you get me? And just a heads-up, you should know this means I'm going to get  _you_ something else too."  
  
"You don't have to," Evie blushed, cutely biting her lip. "It's actually a present for both of us."  
  
Jay suddenly stopped bouncing Henrietta around, eyes widening slightly. He knew that look, the one crossing Evie's face right that second. He'd been there the only other two times in her life that Evie had ever worn that look.  
  
And yet, Mal couldn't even hazard a guess.  
  
"M, you know how four has always been your lucky number?" Evie prodded.  
  
Carlos slowly lowered himself onto the couch as his expression came to mirror Jay's. Mal had had a very long day, so even though her worn and exhausted brain was the last to catch on, catch on she did. For what to her felt like a long moment, she said nothing. But then she let the slow and delicate way she took Evie into her arms do the talking for her, the talking she couldn't do in the middle of such a deep and longing kiss.  
  
"...Do you know that I love you?" Mal whispered, the sight of Evie blurring behind tears.  
  
"I do," Evie whispered back, her vision swimming too.  
  
"Do you know that you will always,  _always_  be my happily ever after?"  
  
"The exact same way I know you'll always be mine, Mal...you'll always be mine."  
  
Henrietta whispered in Uncle Jay's ear, inquisitively asking what was going on. Jay just chuckled and went back to happily bouncing her on his shoulders, knowing that one little girl could only handle so much excitement in one day.  
  
A last minute gift, a present for both Mal and Evie, lucky number four.  
  
Another adventure in dragonsitting, just nine months away.


End file.
